ISSN 2239-978X
ISSN 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
The Impact of Web Portal in Library and
Information Services in the 21st Century
Ahmed Tijjani Abdul
College Library, Federal College of Education, Zaria-Nigeria
Doi:10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n10p37
Abstract
The advent of website which is also referred to as “web portal” is one of the greatest revolution in
the world of providing and promoting library and information resources and services. Today,
accessibility to information and information retrieval as a result of websites as helped libraries and
information centers to effectively render quality library services to their customers. Web portal has
great advantages in information generation, processing and accessibility to information on
demand. Users have the advantage of visiting websites to obtain readily available information via
internet. Therefore, this paper attempt to discuss the concept of web portal as an emerging
technology that could help to facilitate the storing and retrieval of information and its services
particularly as it affect the modern flow and management of information in the 21st century. The
concepts of library service were also highlighted as that phase of library work that assists library
users with relevant information through the use of library resources. The applications of the
technology within Nigeria context were discussed as well as factors that could pose are posing
threat to its management in library services to library users. Finally, recommendations were
proffered as solutions for the use of web technology within the context of library and information
services.
Keywords: Web Portal, Library Services.
1. Introduction
As digital resources increased exponentially over the last decade, academic libraries have heavily
invested in electronic books, research databases, as well as electronic journals, and made them
accessible via their library Web portals. Some libraries also undertake usability initiatives to improve
their Web portals in order to provide users with better and easier access to their electronic
collections and services. In the late 1990s, the web portal was a hot commodity. After the
proliferation of web browser in the late 1990s, many companies tried to build or acquire a portal to
have a piece of the internet market. The web portal gained a special attention because it was for
many users, the starting point of their web browser. The World Wide Web continues to be the
preeminent application on the internet because it has regularly reinvented itself. Infact, for most
people, the World Wide Web has become synonymous with the internet. These changes may prove
to be more far- reaching than any other change to hit the web. Portals are not pad or a new name
for something that we’ve been doing all along; they serve as a repository information centre for
dynamic and potential users who subscribe to their site. Portal virtually gives every users a
customized, personalize and unique web page. Every information technology (I.T) vendor and
many I.T professionals are rushing to produce portal ware and portal- like web pages without fully
understanding the scope of a portal undertaking for an institution or even really understanding
what a web portal is or should do. With recent development, many library and information centers
have been modernized to meet the need of the global change. The traditional practices of
librarianship are fast adapting to the new age technologies for better service delivery to library
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ISSN 2239-978X
ISSN 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
users.
2. The Concept of Web Portal
According to Howard (2007) web portal is a web site that brings together information from diverse
sources in a unified way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for
displaying information. Web portals offer services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information,
data bases and entertainment. According to Osuala (2006) Opines that web portal is computer
files, encoded using Hypertext Mark- up Language (HTML) and containing text, graphics and sound
files that is accessible through the World Wide We According to Duncan (2010) defined web portal
as compendium of knowledge which exposes library customers to varieties of information on
subject disciplines which they need as tools for study and research purpose. Macdonald (2009)
Submitted that web portal is in contestable and indispensable in information management. While
Okon (2005) define web portal as a designed site where users can easily go from one page to
another navigating the information of their choices. He further explain that, web portal have the
information stored into links to various topics such as news, business, sports, entertainment,
finance, travel and much more. Yahoos, Google, AOL are popular portals on the internet.
Spenser (2009) further described web portal as a site that allow global computers net work
called the internet to display multi media document such as text, photographs, illustrations, video,
music or computer programs. They also often include links to other site in the form of hyper text,
highlighted or colour text that the users can click on with their mouse, instructing their computer to
jump to the site. Richard (2008) opined that web portal is divided and categorized into three;
namely:1. Personalized web portal
2. Customized web portal
3. Corporate web portal
The above were further classified into two groups. Vertical Enterprises Portals (VEPs), and
Horizontal Enterprises Portals (HEPs), also called mega portal.
Horizontal Enterprises portal is a public web site that attempt to provide its users with all the
services they might need. Such as net centre and my excite. All HEPs includes shopping, weather,
stock prices, news, search engines, chat groups horoscopes and so forth, and they all urge you to
make their page the first page you see when you use the web. They allow you to personalize the
page you see by selecting the cities for which you would like the weather, choosing the stocks and
news sources you’d like to display. Some HEPs lets you do extensive personalization, allowing you
to build multiple stock portfolios and see frequently updated valuations. Typically, but not always,
the personalization is held in web cookies that are stored on local computer. Accessing a HEPs from
another computer loses all your personalization. HEP always include advertising that pays for the
portal and their goal is to attract as many eyes balls as possible. HEPs do not allow academic or
corporate employees access to every thing they really need on the web. Much of what an employee
needs on the web is specific to where he or she works and his or her role in that organization, for
example, if an employee working in the department of a university could only have access to
information that concern his or her department and related to his or her job in the university
because it has been codified and personalized. On the other hand if an employee is in need of
information outside the scope of his department and roles, he or she would have to restore to the
use of Vertical Enterprises Portals(VEPs).
Vertical Enterprises Portals (VEP) is a portal that delivers organization- specific information in
a user-centric way. Whereas HEPs looks the same to all who first enter it, VEPs looks quite
different. Unlike HEPs, VEPs require authentication for access. When a user logs on to VEPs, it
produces a customized portal page, tailored to the user who logged on. It knows a great deal
about the user who logged on because the user is a member of the organization that produced the
VEPs. A customized web portal is done by the portal soft wares knowledge of an authenticated
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ISSN 2239-978X
ISSN 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
portal user, when you authenticate to a vertical portal, it can gain access to a great deal of
information about you and present you with a customized portal page. The portal customization
engine that resides on the portals application server is responsible for determining each user’s
roles, responsibilities, work flow, and the information that the person is authorize to access. HEPs
have little or no customization, since the initially have access to very little information about you. A
VEP is a single page with access to all the information and the applications a user commonly needs.
It will contain alert, navigation tabs and icons, directories, graphics and links.
3. Concept of Library Services
James (2008) defined library services as varied activities that is rendered to library users for
effective and efficient patronage and given the required information for research work. Akintunde
(2004) opines that, library services in many tertiary institutions have either earned the institution
accreditation or failed them in the provision of effective and efficient services for academic
excellence. In another development, Mohammed(2011) in his lectures delivered to undergraduate
students on security and preservation of library resources said that, library services are categorized
into two namely, solicited and unsolicited library services. Solicited library services are those
services that are mandatory and compulsory for any library to provide for its users. Services such
as reference services, bibliographic services, current awareness services, reader services,
information services, bindery services, indexing and abstracting services, document delivery
services, inter library loan services, internet services, lending services, online public access
catalogue(OPAC), photocopying services, research advisory services, referrer services.etc.
Unsolicited library services are those services that are not mandatory and compulsory for library to
provide for its user but it add more value to the mandatory library services. These services are as
follows:- Book talk, Display and Exhibition, TV show and radio services, Teleconferencing,
Extension services such as film show, puppet shows, picture book time, story telling etc.
4. Library and Information Application in the age of Science and Technology
It has become pertinent and necessary for library and librarian to move from the traditional way of
acquiring, processing, storing and dissemination of information to a modern way through the use of
computers and communication technologies. More so, that users’ are no longer coming to the
library to obtain and acquire relevant information in text using various text books, journals, and
magazines. They prefer to use their computers, phones, other storage facilities in their domain
without covering much distance to get their needed information.
The adoption and use of these technologies made library and information centers to be
recognized as information scientist because they adapt to any changes so as to pursue effective
and efficient service delivery to their patrons or customers. The integration and adoption of this
technology into library services has not only improved library services, but also added more value
to the profession of library and information science. Web portal was adopted to complement and
supplement the traditional way to a modern conducive and stressless way of obtaining information.
Williams (2009) opined that, the introduction of web portal into library has greatly enhanced
the efficiency and effectiveness of library services. Client can get satisfactory answer to their
queries within the shortest time. Librarian can perform their services more efficiently. Among the
greatest benefit of internet to library services is the inexpensive way to communicate with other
internet users world wide. It is used to obtain important resources for teaching and learning in
schools. It is possible to send out orders to publishers and producers of teaching and learning
materials and equipment.
Thompson (2011) submitted that, services such as ordering and processing of library
materials are made easier through internet. Libraries using appropriate commercial databases can
locate selected materials and send out e-mail orders to publishers. Reference services and
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ISSN 2240-0524
Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
resources are moving away from its conventional book formant to electronic format. When there is
a need, information obtained can be printed. Students, teachers and other researcher can look up
items of interest in electronic encyclopedias. Articles on particular subjects from a variety of
publication could be called without having to buy the publication. Services offered by the internet is
the World Wide Web using a technique that will underline or highlight a word, a phrase or an
image in the document. The highlighted word or image is a clue to the user. The document can be
fetched and displayed immediately for the reader irrespective of its location. It links you to the
actual documents, not just the reference to them. The web also support the storage and retrieval
or playing of photographs, graphics, animations.etc. This service greatly helps the library in
disseminating information to library users
5. Benefit of Web Portal to Library Services
The adoption and integration of web portal into library services has changed and improved the
phase of providing or making information available to users and these are:1. It has improved speed limitation in searching and retrieving information.
2. It has encouraged resource sharing among two or more libraries.
3. It has added more value to information professional.
4. It has increase users patronage with the view of accessing library collections.
5. It has enable sending and receiving of information within a short period of time.
6. It has made ordering and processing of library materials easier.
In a related development (2008) identified the benefit of web portal as follows:
1. Web Portal provides information on all subject discipline
2. Web Portal address saves time in searching and retrieving information
3. Web Portal exposes users to many researches
4. Web Portal provide addresses for accessibility
5. Web Portal can be connected to web cam camera for photographic information
6. Web Portal promote good information management
7. Web portal technology is highly flexible as you can search for different information at a
time.
8. Once the server is “on” you can manipulate web site to your advantage.
6. Global Implication of Web Portal in Providing Library Services
The trends of librarianship in library and information centre require much more than the traditional
way of providing and disseminating information to their customers. But looking at the implication of
web portal, one will be curious in asking such questions as; will librarians and information
professionals practice librarianship and still be relevant without adopting this technology; can they
render services as the traditional way and still be current?. Patrick (2008) submitted that global
web portal has changed the way we handle information. The world is referred to as” Global Village”
therefore; web portal has created a situation of open communication and interaction among
members of the community. In a related development Murray (2009) observed that web portal has
nothing to do with distance barrier. People all over the world can connect to the web without
problem of getting different kinds of information. Web portal exposes internet users to various
kinds of web sites. Dennis (2010) agrees with Murray (2009) but stressed that web portal should
present its information comprehensively and well organize. The web site should give details of how
to access web site and get relevant information for career development.
Today, many libraries have come into lime light because of the adoption and application of
new technology in providing library service. The implication means that no printed books or other
printed materials of any kind will be use in the library, no one including the staff will be allow to
bring any of those materials into the library, information will be available only in digital format and
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ISSN 2239-978X
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Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
accessible only electronically. The library will have no photocopying machines, no computer
printers, and no provision for the receipt of mail and no waste baskets and recycling bins. Neither
staff nor users will be allowed to bring note books or any other form of paper into the library. Only
personal data assistance, computer and other paper- free electronic devices may be used to bring
information into, or, take information out of the library or information centers.
7. Application of the Technology within Nigeria Context
In context to Nigeria as a developing country, web portal has been accommodated, adopted, in
most academic institution (both private and public), companies, hospitals, and government
agencies, but the syndrome of maintenance culture, funding is inadequate, staff are not qualified to
operate the equipment, the problem of obsoleteness’ is causing more harm than good. Most web
portals are designed for commercial purposes so as to inform their customers on latest
development as regards to goods and services. It is also used in transacting business such as
buying and selling of products. Nigeria as nation is also faced with the problem of insufficient
power supply and problem of connectivities thereby putting the customers at disadvantage than
advantage. For Nigeria to adapt to this technology, training retraining of information professional
need to be made so as to meet the main stream of digital revolution because library services today
require more global networking in delivery effective and efficient services.
8. Challenges of Web Portal in the Provision of Library Services
In as much as web portal initiative is good; there are observed obstacle that can render library
services ineffective and disappointing among which are;
1. Problem of dialoging among librarians for improve library services
2. Problem of enacting a policy mandating libraries to adopt web portal in providing library
services to customers.
3. Problem of qualified staff in the management of information resources using Web Portal
technology.
4. The problem of interrupted power supply particularly in Nigeria
5. Problem of maintenance culture as web portal require good maintenance for sustainability
and development.
6. Web Portal can be affected by bandwidth as the bigger the bandwidth the wider the area
network.
7. Web Portal is expensive to manage as it requires constant activation from time to time.
8. Problem of constant power supply to operate the technology without interruption.
9. Conclusion
In Africa and, particularly, Nigeria, adoption and adaption of web portal is the case; Nonetheless,
significant progress will have to be made for Nigerians libraries to be in the main stream of the
digital revolution. Library services require more global networking in delivering service. Cost of
technological infrastructure and services, dwindling financial resources, all contribute to inefficiency
of staff and the technology to function properly even when they are made available for effective
library services, electricity (power supply) is another problematic phenomenon, therefore rendering
library inefficiency in the 21st century. Librarians and other information professional needs to
complement and support each other for a meaningful and functional development.
10. Recommendations
The following recommendations were drawn for effective and efficient library services in the 21st
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ISSN 2239-978X
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Journal of Educational and Social Research
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol. 3 No. 10
December 2013
century as regard the adoption and adaptation of new technology such as web portal.
1. There is a need for collective dialogue and corporation among information professionals.
2. There should be a policy mandating every library and information professional to adopt
and make functional practice of web portal in making information available to their
customers.
3. Training and retraining of library staff locally and internationally should be encourage in all
aspect of information management and resource development using web portal.
4. Constant power supply should be maintained or making available generator set for power
failure
5. Maintenance culture should be emphasize to increase the life span of the technology
6. Information professionals should be encourage to acquire big bandwidth for improve
library service using web portal.
7. Funding should be made and checked judiciously for maintenance and Management of
web portal.
8. Constant power supply should be maintained or making available generator set for power
failure.
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